SHIPSHEWANA — Andrew Billings had taken a comfortable seat under a shade tree in front of the Boardwalk Cafe Wednesday afternoon. The spring sun was hot, causing shoppers who lingered along the town’s sidewalks to reconsider and quickly seek the cool interiors of the many shops.

Billings found his spot outside and settled in to wait for his wife Julie.

“This is her thing. She likes to come and look at our past,” he said of the antiques to be found in many of the tourist town’s stores.

A few minutes later Julie arrived at the shady spot with a newly purchased glass cat for her collection of feline figurines.

The Anderson couple, like hundreds of thousands of other people across the nation and the world, make it a point to visit Shipshewana often.

“We’ve been coming up here for the last 40 to 50 years,” Andrew said. “The shops over on the second street,” Andrew said while he nodded east toward Morton Street from his chair along Harrison Street, “were just vacant.”

He also recounted how back then the Shipshewana Flea Market, now a massive complex of vendor stalls and auction buildings, was just a row of tables piled with an assortment of items.

“Back then they were just getting their feet on the ground,” he said.

Shipshewana, a town of about 530 year-round residents, has evolved into a national, and even a world tourism destination.

“The struggle is to always maintain the atmosphere that people come here for, the simple life, the quietness, when 400,000 plus come through here each year,” said Shipshewana Auction Marketing Director Rene Hostetler.

That calm, simple atmosphere is created by the large Amish community in western LaGrange County. During most of the year Shipshewana runs at a slow pace, with the clip-clop of horses pulling buggies and the whistle on the firehouse being about the loudest noises in town. The town’s merchants do make extensive marketing efforts to attract customers year-round, but it is the warm-weather tourist season when most visitors arrive.

Like other tourist destinations around the nation, Shipshewana suffered during the recession and its aftermath. But now, hope is high that tourist numbers will grow this year.

“All I can judge by is the amount of reservations,” said Jean Anderson, an employee at Shipshewana Campground. “We are almost at capacity for the Memorial weekend, so it tells me it is going to be a good season.”

She said the RVers who stay at the campground come from across North America. Thursday morning she helped customers from Canada.

Kathy McClanaghan didn’t mind the afternoon heat. She sat in the sun, dipping her paintbrush in a kaleidoscope of colorful paints and then quickly moving the brush in sure strokes to create orange poppies on an old milk can painted black.

Her paints on slate, paint cans and a host of other ordinary items, decorate doorways, lake cottages and homes around the world.

“I think it’s good,” she said of the tourist traffic as she brushed on a petal. “It just gets busier every year.”

She’s not sure why her trade keeps growing, but she believes it might be due in part to her painting outside and mixing with the tourists. And, she thinks people want something made locally.

“People are looking for American, ordinary and original they can’t find in their hometown,” she said.

She said she sells a lot of artwork to Europeans who visit Shipshewana or search her out on the Internet.

“Some artists paint what they want,” she said. “I try to paint what they want.”

That personal touch is a trademark of Shipshewana shops, where the owner may also be the person waiting on customers.

More than Shipshewana

Tourism is the lifeblood of Shipshewana, but it is also a large contributor to the economy of Elkhart County, just next door.

The tourism industry puts $367.6 million into the local economy annually, according to Jackie Hughes, the marketing specialist for the Elkhart County Convention and Visitors Bureau. That cash supports 5,266 jobs in the county. She said every dollar spent in the county by a tourist moves through the local economy and results in $21.03 in wages for local residents.

Local governments also realize $17.1 million in annual tax revenues from tourism, according to Hughes.

Shipshewana and Elkhart County tourism spots are marketed under the umbrella slogan of “Amish Country.” And Amish-themed attractions are all throughout the area. One of the largest is Amish Acres in Nappanee. Visitors are treated to a re-created Amish farm, as well as a gift shop and the Round Barn Theater, which annually performs the play “Plain and Fancy,” which has an Amish lifestyle theme.

“Our big draw is the Amish community,” said Amish Acres Marketing Director Janise Logsdon. “We have been doing historic interpretation of the Amish community for over 40 years. Of course, everyone enjoys a home-cooked dinner, so the thresher dinner is a big draw.”

On Friday she was just in from giving tours to 800 school kids. She said this tourism season is looking pretty good so far, with some days having seven or eight bus tours stopping by.

And, the Amish Acres quilt garden will be planted by the end of the week. That garden is part of the quilt garden tour that extends from Shipshewana to Nappane and includes most of Elkhart County’s communities.

The quilt garden tour has been a phenomenal success and continues to draw tourists each year, according to Diana Lawson, director of the Elkhart County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

But it is a comprehensive mix of events and attractions that draw tourists to the county, according to Lawson.

“There are so many reasons people come,” she said. “The Jazz Festival, First Fridays, the 4-H fair. Those are definitely reasons people want to come to the area as well.”

She also believes the tourist season will be pretty good.

“We are not breaking any records, but we are doing better than we were. One great thing is we are not going down,” Lawson said.

So far this year local motel room rates are increasing as is the demand for those rooms.

“The forecast is looking good. The hotels are saying the bookings re looking good. We are seeing some sold out weekends,” Lawson said.